Although nearly any topic might be addressed, economics, education, ethics, and politics will be in the forefront. Occasional dashes of snarky satire are included for flavor.

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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Downward Gyre Revisited

As a nation, we are in what is known as a debt death spiral. We simply cannot repay the debt that we have amassed. "Hence the unpaid balance is added back to the amount owed, making the problem worse next year. The debt spiral is growing exponentially. There is no way to avoid a certain mathematical end--BANKRUPTCY."

According to the Washington Post, interest on the national debt, the accumulated deficits from previous years, is projected by the current administration to be $251 billion for fiscal year 2011. At a quarter of a trillion dollars a year in interest alone, the Chinese government is becoming Uncle Sam's Tony Soprano. O-buma and company want Congress to allow the federal government to spend $3.83 trillion while taking in only $2.57 trillion in revenue, leaving a $1.27 trillion shortfall.

We cannot make good on the financial commitments that we have already made. To put it into perspective, if "the Government confiscated everything, [an Obamatron utopian dream] the social programs would still be $50 trillion short and the Government would still be bankrupt. Furthermore, no company or individual would be left with anything." If O-buma and the other Saul Alinsky type Theftocrats had their way and private ownership were to be ended, we would all be landless as well as penniless. Still, Corruptocrats want to spend one-and-one-quarter trillion dollars more than we will take in this year.

What sort of spending schemes have gotten us into such deep kimchee? Federal workers' compensation is an area where the burden on taxpayers pockets could be lightened. This article points out that in "the private sector, productivity determines workers' pay. Firms that overpay their employees are driven out of business by firms that more accurately price their employees' economic contribution. [think Government Motors] If the federal government paid market rates for their employees' skill, education, and experience, it would save taxpayers $47 billion in 2011 alone."

If former Senator Everett Dirksen were alive today, he might observe that saving $50 billion here and $50 billion there could eventually add up to some real money.

"The gravy train doesn't end there. How much would near-absolute job security be worth to you? While their private sector counterparts have seen unemployment rise from 4.2% to a high of 10.6%, the percentage of federal employees who lost jobs barely budged, going from 2.0% to 2.9%." Abolishing the current seniority-based system "and implementing performance-based pay would go a long way toward getting taxpayers a fair deal."

Unemployment decreases federal revenue and increases its expenditures. However, productivity also improves the government's balance sheet, and it is influenced by the national debt. The Congressional Budget Office advises that "economic output per person will tend to rise under normal conditions (about 1.5 percent year), but could stagnate or even fall if rising government debt 'crowds out' the ability of the private sector to make productivity enhancing investments...CBO economists are warning that debt poses a direct threat to economic growth." However, growth can be created artificially.

In "The Fed Trashes the Dollar," author Pat Buchanan observes that the US Federal Reserve's prime responsibility is to "protect the dollars that Americans earn and save." Unfortunately, its chairman Ben Bernanke is going to have the Fed "buy $600 billion in bonds from banks and pay for them by printing money that will be deposited in those banks. The more dollars that flood into the economy, the less every one of them is worth."

"This is Weimar economics." The prices for oil and gold indicate that we are on the way to hyperinflation. During the time of the Weimar Republic money was plentiful; unfortunately, it took a wheelbarrow load of money to buy a week's worth of groceries. When the Fed was created in 1913, "a $20 bill could be exchanged for a $20 gold piece. Today, it takes seventy $20 bills to buy a $20 gold piece, which means that the dollar can buy in 2010 what you could get in 1910 for two pennies. Quite a record for a central bank set up to protect the dollar."

Inflation is a kind of theft that is perpetrated by the federal government's fiscal and economic policies. It increases the dollars that the nation's coffers receive as they tax artificially bloated incomes and prices for property and commodities. Politicians use this backdoor tax to finance the largesse that Corruptocrats use to buy votes and finance the theft-welfare state.

National problems have their origins at the highest levels of government. Our present leaders have left the ship of state rudderless in foreign affairs and aggressively anti-American in domestic matters. This article describes how the The One's imperial presidency is leading us down the path to third world status. "It is almost as if a collective schizophrenia dominates policymakers. Impotence abroad, omnipotence at home; shrinkage of the reach of government abroad; expansion at home; frugality in foreign and military affairs; profligacy at home; appeals for public approval of foreign citizens; deafness to the desires of voters at home."